Increasingly, Mike Huckabee is what Leadership looks like ( snipurl.com/leaderlook ). He is an adroit public speaker; he communicates his message in life-like, cogent terms, with compelling examples like the story he told (at the Ames Straw Poll) of what his then-11-yo daughter entered into the “Comments” section of a Visitors Book after visiting the Yad Vashem holocaust museum: “Why didn’t somebody do something?”

Huckabee is all about calling his listeners to “do something,” to awaken them to their own empowerment, and summon them to action in order that “Main Street,” and not “Wall Street,” will prevail in guarding the values and beliefs upon which the Republic was founded.

Huckabee puts his listeners at ease, and reassures them, articulating clear concepts in a natural, easy style (no doubt something well-cultivated as a pastor). One can easily imagine sitting comfortably with Mike over a cup of coffee at the Main Street Cafe.

Huckabee is ONE ( snipr.com/nextrung ) with the FairTax grassroots movement ( snipr.com/becomeamember ). While many – like Romney, and others, who are invested in the current income tax system – seek to demagog ( snipurl.com/taxpanelrebutted ) the well-researched FairTax plan, its acceptance in the professional / academic community ( snipurl.com/econsopenletter ) continues to grow. Renown economist Laurence Kotlikoff believes that failure to enact the FairTax – choosing instead to try to “flatten” what he deems to be a non-flattenable income tax system – will eventuate into an irrevocable economic meltdown ( snipurl.com/meltdowninprogress ) because of the hidden aspects of the current system that make political accountability impossible.

Response to FairTax questioning on “This Week with Geo. Stephanopoulos ( snipurl.com/stephanopoulosdebate )” drew a sharp contrast between Huckabee all other presidential candidates who have yet to embrace it. Huckabee understands that what’s wrong with the income tax can’t be fixed with “a tap of the hammer, nor a twist of the screwdriver.” That his opponents cling to the destructive Tax Code, the IRS, preserving political power of granting tax favors at continued cost to – and misery of – American families, invigorates his campaign’s raison d’etre.

Of the FairTax, Huckabee asserts that it’s…

• SIMPLE, easy to understand
• EFFICIENT, inexpensive to comply with and doesn’t cause less-than-optimal business decisions for tax minimization purposes
• FAIR, FLAT, and FAMILY FRIENDLY, loophole-free, and everyone pays their share
• LOW TAX RATE is achieved by broad base with no exclusions
• PREDICTABLE, doesn’t change, so financial planning is possible
• UNINTRUSIVE, doesn’t intrude into our personal affairs or limit our liberty
• VISIBLE, not hidden from the public in tax-inflated prices or otherwise
• PRODUCTIVE, rewards – rather than penalizes – work and productivity

For INDIVIDUALS:
• No more tax on income – make as much as you wish
• FairTax is paid on goods and services – “new, at retail,” not “used”

• You receive your full paycheck – no more deductions
• Every household receives a monthly amount, or “prebate”
• “Prebate” is “advance tax payback” on poverty-level consumption
• FairTax ensures poverty protection, being less regressive than income tax
• Increased household income preserves real purchasing power against any higher prices

• FairTax is captured on illicit forms of income when spent
• NO DOUBLE TAXATION on goods and services
• NO MORE IRS or FILING OF INCOME TAX returns
• Parasitic income tax filing industry eliminated
• Savings is bolstered with reduction of interest rates

For the COUNTRY:
• 7% – 13% economic growth projected in the first year of the FairTax
• Jobs return to the U.S.
• Foreign corporations “set up shop” in the U.S.
• Tax system trends are corrected to “enlarge the pie”
• Larger economic “pie,” means thinner tax rate “slices”
• Initial 23% portion of price is pressured downward as “pie” increases
• No more “closed door” tax deals by politicians and business
• FairTax sets new global standard. Other countries will follow

While passionately supporting FairTax, Huckabee understands that, if elected President, Congress will have to present the bill for his signature. His call to action goes beyond his candidacy, Main Street will have to demand ( snipr.com/scrapthecode ) that their legislators deliver the bill.